Watch Army Combat Engineers Blow the Wings Off a C-130

Say you're an Army combat engineer in Iraq, and you've got a C-130 Hercules that's no longer fit for service. How do you dismantle it? Sure, you could break out the tow truck, torch cutters, and maybe a circular saw or two, but an unloaded C-130 still weighs over 75,000 pounds.

Better idea? Run some det cord and high explosives to the wing joints, and make fast work of taking apart one of the Army's workhorses.

The video, shot in 2013 by Sgt. Robert Yarbrough and courtesy the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs, shows that with a little ingenuity and a whole lot of high explosives, nearly anything is possible.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.